Caribbean Series 2008

The 2008 Caribbean Series, which began Feb. 2 in the Dominican Republic, will have a couple of interesting differences this year.

The D.R. is trying something new. Instead of holding the event in its traditional Quisqueya Stadium in the capital, Santo Domingo, organizers opted for the city of Santiago in the northern region of the country. Santiago is home to the Aguilas Cibaeñas team, which recently won the Dominican Winter League championship.

In addtion, the Dominican is well represented this year. With Puerto Rico not in the tournament this year after canceling its entire winter season (due to financial difficulties), the Dominican Republic will have two teams participating. In addition to the Aguilas, who will be the true “home club” playing in Santiago’s Cibao Stadium, the D.R. will also be represented by none other than the Tigres del Licey, runner-up in the Dominican League this year. Licey is the individual club with the most Caribbean Series titles, nine, in the history of the event. Licey also sports an infield that is composed of current Major League stars Miguel Tejada, Edwin Encarnacion, Rafael Furcal and Tony Peña Jr.

Mexico’s representative in this year’s tournament is the Yaquis de Obregon, who defeated the Venados de Mazatlán in the Pacific League championship series. It was the Yaquis’ first Mexican Pacific League title in 27 years, and Obregon looks forward to its first Caribbean Series appearance ever (the event was not held in 1981 when Obregon last clinched the title).

As for Venezuela, the Tigres de Aragua victory over the Cardenales de Lara in a hard fought six game final series in Venezuela secured their Caribbean Series berth.

As has been the case in recent years, the Dominican teams should be favored playing on their home soil, even with “reinforcements” from other clubs in their league spread to two teams instead of one.

The 2008 Caribbean Series will be played Feb. 2-7 at Cibao Stadium in Santiago, Dominican Republic. With the round-robin format, every team will play each other twice, and the team at the top of the standings after six games will be the champion. In case of a first-place tie, head-to-head competition will be the tiebreaker, and if the teams have split their two contests, a one-game playoff will be held on Feb. 8 to determine the champion.